


The Big Two-One

by Kaoru_chibimaster



Series: HBD Promtifa [1]
Category: Final Fantasy VII, Final Fantasy XV
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Birthday, Crack, Crossover, Crossover Pairings, F/M, Fluff, Humor, No Empire, No prophecy, ff7 and ff15 in the same universe, no crystal, no jenova, no meteor, no sephiroth
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-05-03
Updated: 2018-05-03
Packaged: 2019-05-01 19:47:36
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,966
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14527893
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Kaoru_chibimaster/pseuds/Kaoru_chibimaster
Summary: Okay so maybe things weren’t as together as she’d hoped they’d be. Her bar was on fire and there was blood on the window, but hey! Nobody died.





	The Big Two-One

**Author's Note:**

> Hey, I’m back with yet another fic for a pairing no one asked for! Anyway, HBD Tifa! Much thanks to carolina1k for brainstorming ideas for this fic with me!

“I find it funny that you’ve been working a bar for over a year and are only just now turning old enough to drink…”

Tifa opened her mouth in response and Prompto was quick to cut her off.

“Legally.”

“It’s not like you’re any better,” she snorted, grinning knowingly.

“Yeah,” Prompto shrugged. “But you’re my ‘supplier’ and anyway, isn’t it a little…I don’t know, ostentatious to work at a bar under age and expect anyone to believe you haven’t drank?”

Rolling her eyes, Tifa only shook her head and pushed herself out of her stool. For once, she was on the other side of the counter while Prompto stood behind it, cleaning glasses idly as he waited for customers. He had offered to watch the bar while Tifa went out with Aerith for birthday dinner (he’d get his time with her later that evening) since he knew she’d be missing out on that paycheck if she closed for the night. Prompto was covering until Barret was finished with work, and then he’d be kicking Prompto out. Which worked out because Barret knew way more about bartending than Prompto did, so he wouldn’t have been able to handle the entire night anyway.

“It’s Midgar, Prompto, no one cares that much.”

Well yeah. Prompto had long since realized that. Sure he missed Lucis since he’d started traveling the world for his own profession –and yes he swore he was going to be a world-famous photographer one day– but one thing he could do without were the strict rules. It was a lot harder to hide getting drunk with the Prince of Lucis in the middle of the Crown City than it was to hide in the lower city of a corporate run metal tin. Really. Prompto felt like he’d stepped back in time by three decades when he first moved to Midgar. Still, the city cut a lot more slack than back home, so he supposed Tifa was right. The fact that a nineteen year old had been allowed to buy out space to own a bar in the first place was a testament to that.

“I ought to take you back to Insomnia one day. The culture shock will blow your mind,” he told her, setting the glass down finally. It was probably sparkling by now anyway. He moved on to another one.

“Or not? I’ve seen it on tv.”

“Yeah but not in person. It’s a whole other experience in person!” Prompto paused for a second before coming to a decision. “I’ll take you there my next birthday.” He’d have until October to save up. It’d work out fine, he was sure. Between his job at the computer repair shop and his self-owned photography business…as of now still small and unnamed but he was getting there, he’d have enough to at least make the trip there and back.

“I look forward to it,” Tifa responded, a lot more sincerely this time. “You can show me this whole other experience then. In the meantime…”

“Right, right. You go ahead and run off with Aerith. I’ll be here til eight.”

“I’ll be back before eight. Aerith has to get to bed early tonight anyway.” A small frown crossed her face as she realized she truly was leaving her bar to someone else while she was away. She hadn’t done that…ever. Not even Johnny had worked the counter without her hanging around in the backroom, handling paperwork. “You remember everything I told you, right?”

“I got it,” he nodded. “Drinks are separated by cabinet, no mixing unless they ask, a whole scoop of ice, check IDs if they look like highschoolers, don’t give anyone a whole bottle, call the police if a fight breaks out, emergency exit is—” a point towards the back “—that way.”

“And call me if anything goes wrong.”

Tifa looked him up and down for a moment. “Also don’t let them sexually harass you.”

It was Prompto’s turn to snort. “I don’t think any of your customers want my freckly ass.” Not when their usual bartender was a freaking goddess.

“I don’t know… I think your freckly ass is pretty cute, if you ask me,” she winked. Prompto was more than a little certain he was blushing. “And I’m sure someone else does too, so…you know. Call me.”

Ah…Prompto probably wasn’t going to call his girlfriend to defend his honor from some drunk perv, but it was a nice thought nonetheless.

“Tifa, I’ll be fine. Go! Have fun!” he sighed, rolling his eyes exaggeratedly before shooing her off.

“Alright, alright! Kick me out of my own bar, wouldya,” she laughed, turning to leave. Prompto watched her go with only the mildest of apprehension. He was sure he’d be fine. It was just one night, and not even the whole night. Barret would handle the rowdier midnight customers. Until then, smooth sailing for Prompto.

-o-

“Ti, you can’t seriously be trying to tell me you left him alone in there for an entire day.”

Tifa cringed slightly at the sharp jab of doubt sent her way. She didn’t think it’d turn out too bad, all things considered.

Yeah. It’d be fine.

“Why’re you saying it like that? I think he can handle himself…” she trailed off, somewhat nervously. She really did have faith in Prompto to handle himself, hell she’d seen it before. It was her customers she didn’t have much faith in. But she wouldn’t admit to that out loud.

“He’s like…a little puppy. A golden, fluffy puppy that you just threw to the sharks,” Aerith continued. Or accused, really, because ouch.

“He isn’t defenseless, Aerith.”

“Okay. A puppy that knows how to shoot a gun. Except I’m pretty sure the only thing he’d rather be shooting is a camera, and preferably not at your bar full of drunk old men.”

“Aerith…”

“Someone’s gonna grab his butt while he’s handing out drinks, I just know it!”

“Aerith!”

Aerith only laughed (and okay, maybe Tifa laughed too), but it was somewhat of a concern to Tifa that her customers might harass Prompto while she wasn’t there. And not even just by being handsy; they’d probably get upset that she wasn’t there in the first place and start throwing insults. She had faith that he’d take them in stride, but she wasn’t one to sit by and let someone close to her get hurt like that in the first place. It made actually sitting down and enjoying dinner… _trying_ , to say the least.

Thankfully, Aerith was one of the most fun people Midgar had to offer, so it wasn’t too difficult to get back in the groove of things. Not so thankfully, this was cannon fodder for her.

“Look, we’re both getting old—”

“We’re in our twenties.”

“—and I guess it shows because we’re thinking about work when we should be stuffing ourselves with greasy restaurant food. I’m just saying though, maybe you should’ve let Johnny handle the bar instead of Prompto. He looks like he freaks out easier than you do.”

Ouch again. He wasn’t that bad. _Tifa_ wasn’t that bad. She just…wasn’t the best at handling stress.

“He’s not going to freak out, Aer. It’s just until, what, eight? And we’ll be done before then, so I can handle it until Barret gets there. Besides, Johnny set fire to my counter. I’m not letting him back in there.” His experiments with exotic drinks were amusing until they weren’t. He was the worse option.

“Fine, fine, fine. I’ll leave it alone for now. But I think it’s a given that you should keep you phone out,” Aerith concluded, picking up her menu and scanning it for appetizers.

“What do you think? Stuffed mushrooms? Calamari? Fried broccoli?” she asked. Tifa shrugged.

“Go with whatever. I’m not picky over appetizers.”

“Stuffed mushrooms it is. Ohhh, theirs has the garlic butter sauce too!”

“Is that why you chose the seafood joint?” She honestly thought Aerith would go for the buffet house. It was a birthday staple, in her opinion.

“No, I chose this place because white wine and seafood are mature and will fully cement your place in adult society.”

“You sent me imported beer with a red ribbon around it for my last birthday!”

“Exactly! Kid’s stuff. Don’t tell me you want Rocket Town beer for your twenty-first.”

Tifa didn’t want it for her twentieth.

“Ooor, maybe I should’ve imported it from Lucis. You like stuff from your bf’s home, right?”

“Oooor maybe you shouldn’t have been sending me alcohol before my twenty-first? You’re two years older than me, aren’t you supposed to be the responsible one in this situation?”

“Pffffft.”

Well, that was the end of that then.

“Okay, so never mind that. Why seafood here? Seems more like a Costa Del Sol thing.” Midgar wasn’t exactly known for its fresh fish. Or its fresh anything, really.

“You’re already paranoid about leaving your bar for a night. Imagine a week for the beach.”

Okay. Fair point. Tifa decided there was no further point in arguing and that she ought to simmer down and find something to eat. They would enjoy their stuffed mushrooms and she’d probably buy something with lobster in it (like those lobster stuffed ravioli, those looked good) and everything would be f—

Both she and Aerith jumped when her phone chimed loudly. Sheepishly, Tifa checked around their table to see if they’d bothered anyone else (though she doubted she did as much damage as Ms. Nosy over there scooting her chair across the floor to look over Tifa’s shoulder) before flipping her phone open and checking the text that had just popped up.

It was from Chocobo2.0 (a lovely moniker bestowed upon Prompto when Yuffie had hijacked Tifa’s phone and changed all of her contacts…Cloud was Chocobo1.0 of course) and it only previewed what looked to be a lengthy text message.

Oh dear.

“I told you so—”

“Shh!” Tifa did not want to hear it.

*Chobobo2.0 – ‘ _Okay so everything’s pretty normal…well it was pretty normal cept some1 threw a bottle against the wall n challenged this other dude 2 a duel n now they r fighting outside n ur gonna see a blood splatter on the window that was them._

_Also this group of teenagers came in n 1 of them drew a beard on his face n asked me not 2 id him. I’m still laughing. No 1s died yet._ ’

“See?” Tifa started, smiling. “No one’s dead yet.”

“There’s blood on your window.”

“Yeah, but that’s pretty typical. As long as it stays outside.”

“Okay…” Aerith let out a long, exaggerated sigh and scooted back in her spot.

Their appetizer came, they ordered their meals, their dinner came. It was so cut and dry that Tifa honestly found herself forgetting that she was even worried in the first place. It helped that Aerith left the matter alone from there, so they were able to catch up and just talk without anything hanging over their heads. A nice change of pace from the hectic afternoon Tifa had anticipated.

“So, spill!” Tifa grinned, leaning over the table. Aerith, in the midst of cracking a particularly difficult crab leg, raised an eyebrow at her.

“Spill?”

“Your doctor’s appointment tomorrow! You really think you’re expecting?”

“Oh! Hmm…I’d say more ‘fairly certain’ than ‘absolutely positive’. Honestly, I wasn’t planning on kids for a while, so a part of me is kinda terrified if it’s confirmed.”

“True. I’d have thought you’d have waited until marriage first, at least,” Tifa nodded.

“So did I. I mean, Zack’s not going anywhere, but I had this dream all planned out: we’d get married in the summer, he’d move up in his job and my flower business would flourish, I’d finally buy out a building and leave that church, we’d wait a few years, have two kids, watch them grow up and then once they left the nest, we’d live out the rest of our days in Gongaga. Here we are, broke and pregnant.”

“Possibly pregnant.”

“Probably pregnant. But at the same time, I’m happy it’s with him.”

“True. At least we know he’ll actually take care of you. Both of you.”

Aerith nodded absently. “I know he will. If he didn’t, I’d just bunk with you—wait no, ‘cause if you move to Insomnia out of the blue, I’m definitely not freeloading off of you.”

“I’m not going to up and move to Insomnia,” Tifa huffed.

“Riiiight.”

“I’m not! I—”

Speak of the devil.

Her phone chimed again.

Once again, Tifa pulled out her phone and flipped it open, and once again, Aerith scooted her chair over to see what was going on.

*Chocobo2.0 – ‘ _um don’t freak out but some1 started a fire in the trash cans out back n also those guys brought the fight inside n now there’s a bar wide brawl._ ’

*Chocobo2.0 – ‘ _Actually yea freak out cuz the fire’s inside now_ ’

*Chocobo2.0 – ‘ _so I called the police n they still haven’t gotten here_ ’

*Chocobo2.0 – _’20 min_ ’

*Chocobo2.0 – ‘ _okay I put the fire out but now tht guy from b4 needs an ambulance and I may kinda sorta be hiding under the counter_ ’

*Chocobo2.0 – ‘ _there goes ur dish set btw. I’ll buy u a new 1_.’

Tifa honestly wasn’t sure what to say to all of this. Twenty five minutes ago everything had been fine. Now she was wondering if someone tried to burn her bar down, and hoping everything on the inside wasn’t broken.

*Me – ‘ _Okay, just. Don’t panic and wait for me to get there. Don’t get caught up in that fight!_ ’

*Chocobo2.0 – ‘ _2 late? I kicked the dude that started the fight out, but now I’m stuck in the middle of this crowd…_ ’

Well that was one way not to do it. Even Tifa knew better.

*Chocobo2.0 – ‘ _And I’m pretty sure someone just touched my butt_ ’

Aerith, dainty, sweet, adorable Aerith, slammed her fist on the table and shouted, “I knew it!”

“Aerith this isn’t funny,” Tifa said, chewing her lip nervously. This was the exact outcome she hoped would not come to pass. It really would’ve helped if the bar had just been filled with tired happy hour customers who didn’t want to be bothered. Then again…it was a Saturday so she supposed that would’ve been hoping for a bit too much.

“Oh I’m not saying it’s funny. I’m just saying—”

“You told me so. I know. C’mon.” Tifa got up from the table, dropped the gil to cover their meal on the table (much to Aerith’s chagrin, as she was determined to make this a birthday treat), and all but ran out of the restaurant. She wasn’t quite so worried about a birthday dinner when there was a chance Prompto wasn’t safe, her customers weren’t safe, and her bar was on fire. And once she found whoever lit up her trashcans…

She had some heads to bust.

-o-

“I’m sorry I’m sorry I’m sorry I’m sorry—”

“Prompto calm down. I’m pretty sure I would’ve been at a loss in that situation. It’s Saturday night, people are rowdy, they saw I wasn’t there and wanted to start some shit. No harm done in the long run, especially since you put that fire out and kicked out the brawlers,” Tifa reassured him. It didn’t seem to help too much, he was still kneeling on the floor begging for forgiveness which was, frankly, unnecessary, but she only felt relieved. Her walls on the east side were scorched black but nothing reached her cabinet. Neither she nor Prompto were held responsible for the fight that broke out (or the teenager with the fake beard that ran off with a couple bottles in the midst of the chaos) and everyone who was left over seemed more interested in minding their own business. They never found the arsonist (or, much to Aerith’s amusement, the butt toucher), but after everything had calmed down, Tifa figured she’d worry about that later. For now, she pulled Prompto up by his arm and dusted him off.

“Worst birthday ever, huh?” he asked quietly, standing still for her while she brushed broken glass and dirt from his clothes.

Tifa only smiled and shook her head. “Nah. I’ve had worse, trust me.”

“Heh. Same, honestly.”

They both took a moment to laugh at that. What a mess they were, standing in the middle of a ruined bar, lamenting on worse birthdays than fires and fist fights.

“Think you can let me make it up to you?” he asked.

“I’m not going to ‘let you’ anything. That’s up to you.”

“Well, I want to. You and Aer never finished dinner, right?”

“Right!” Aerith shouted across the room from the counter.

“Then let’s go out. Just the two of us for a night on the town. How’s that sound?”

Tifa couldn’t have had a better suggestion. Prompto stood before her, bright blond hair in disarray, face smeared in grime but still sporting that boyish grin, a hopeful gleam in his eyes. How in the world could Tifa say no to that?

“Sounds perfect.”

Tifa figured it turned out to be a good birthday after all, as she walked out of the bar hand in hand with Prompto. Even with her tables smashed and her scorched walls. Even with her burnt up trashcans and the blood stains on the floor and windows. Even with Aerith hooting suggestively at them in the background. It was good enough for her.

“I guess I’ll just…wait here until Barret shows up then,” Aerith said after they’d left, settling against the counter. It shouldn’t be too long, Barret was supposed to be there at eight.

She checked the clock. It was seven.


End file.
